


The Little Things

by Wahmenitu



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-01-28
Packaged: 2017-11-27 07:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wahmenitu/pseuds/Wahmenitu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuffie and Leon have always been closer to each other than to others.  It's hard to catch them actually revealing the depth of their feelings towards each other.  When you do see it, it's in the little things...</p>
<p>(These are all mostly drabbles, and not very long.  Enjoy.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Yuffie knew what they had was different. They were both the second choice, their first loves ripped away from them by the Heartless and the Nobodies and the Darkness and  _them_. Organization XIII. And while Yuffie constantly assured him that when she saw him, she saw only him, she couldn't help but worry about what he saw.

When she looked, she saw his chocolate brown, tousled hair, not the ebony, silky strands. When she peered into his face, she saw the stormy, fierce gray, not the sad, crimson pools. And when she looked up, she didn't see the sharp angles and height that was Vincent, she saw the broad, strong lion that was "Leon". (Squall.)

But what about when he looked at her. Did he see the short raven locks, or was he imagining onyx tresses with caramel highlights? When one of his little, quirked smiles slipped, did he see her own, violet eyes light up in excitement, or were they the warm brown he used to love?

She constantly worried. Constantly wondered if he actually cared for her, or if he was pretending she was someone else.

Deep down, she knew he wasn't like that. Squall would never ever lead her along, only to satisfy her own desires. But Yuffie was human, no matter how great, and sometimes, she doubted.

But, always, right when she was about to question what they had, there were the little things.

It was the little things Leon did that assured her that he really cared, that it was really her he held close, and that it was her he was worried about when she came home late from a patrol. They were hard to catch, but they were there, and every one would brighten her day, and she would skip for the remainder of it, replaying it over and over in her head while the rest of them wondered what she had eaten and how long her sugar high was going to last.


	2. At Your Back

Her feet pounded against the hard pavement. Every breath she took burned her lungs. But she couldn't stop. This was practically war. Tifa and Aerith could only hold their own for so long. She had to be fast.

She wielded her Conformer like a sword, hacking and slashing her way to the Borough, until she finally reached Merlin's door. She slapped her palm against it, drawing a deep breath, so she could shout, "Yuffie Kisaragi! Secondary leader of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!" and the magical lock clunked open.

It was a safety measure, and completely necessary, but she was not prepared for what she found on the other side.

There was a white shirt on the table, soaked in what Yuffie could only guess was blood. Cloud stood by, looking annoyed, but Yuffie had learned that was how he looked when he was worried, too. Cid was standing, holding a small, glowing green bottle in his hand, a Hi-potion, and Leon sat at the table, with his chest and back bare, and looking annoyed as well.

"What happened?" she practically shouted, as she walked over to a chest, intent on doing what she had come to do, while also figuring out what was going on. She grabbed several Hi-potions, as well as quite a few Ethers for Aerith, and a few extra of everything for Tifa.

"We were fighting. Leon wasn't watching his back." Cloud replied shortly, before he turned. "I'm going back out there. I'll help the King out." he muttered, hefting his Buster sword, and walking out.

"Here, Yuffie, you do this. I gotta keep the computer going." Cid grunted, shoving the Potion in Yuffie's hands, and stomping over to said machine, the loud beeps and whirring sounds assured her that she would not be heard over it.

"How could you let one sneak up on you like that?" Yuffie demanded, going behind Leon, and carefully pouring the Potion over the gash on his back.

Leon was silent, eyes burning a hole in the wall. When she had finished, he stood abruptly, to grab a clean shirt, and shrug his jacket back on.

"Don't you ignore me, Squall Leonheart!" Yuffie stomped her foot. Childish, but now she was worried. Leon  _never_ left his back unguarded. It was too vulnerable. What had been distracting him.

Leon paused at the door, and turned a little to look back at her. "I thought you were going to be there." he stated simply, before he walked out, leaving a shocked and confused ninja behind.

He thought she was going to be there? She wasn't anywhere near him at the time! Unless...

It clicked finally. He meant that she had been at his back so often, he had gotten used to her there. He trusted her enough to let his guard down, and he trusted her with his life, essentially.

Yuffie stood for several long moments, before a particularly loud crash snapped her out of it. She'd corner him about it later, right now, her old world needed her. Dashing out, she bounded past Sora, glancing back momentarily to stare at the weird man in the black cloak brandishing what looked to her like a giant guitar.

It didn't keep her focus for long, as she leaped back into the fray. And when she was surrounded, she found she had to remind herself as well that Leon was  _not_ covering her. Now, she was on her own.

But she was  _not_  going to die.


	3. Without Question

"Here's the disk." Cid grunted from his spot on the floor, Yuffie hiding a giggle behind her hand at the two old men fighting.

"Thanks." Leon grunted, reaching down to pluck the disk from the pilot's hands before Merlin could inflict more damage. "I have to get this back to Ansem's computer lab, now. Sora's in there." he paused, and suddenly, Yuffie found her eyes on him, the silent question burning.

With a delighted smile, she simply nodded, and followed Leon out when he turned to leave. He wanted her with her. She didn't know whether it was that he wanted to protect her, or he just wanted her away from the two old men, but the fact was he preferred her with him. As she ran alongside him, dodging the security system that had turned on them, she couldn't help but beam.

She stood beside him as Aerith forced the disk into the computer, and now, they sat back, to wait.

"Hey. Squall." Yuffie snapped her fingers to get his attention.

"Leon." he corrected automatically, but it showed he was listening.

"I heard Hades is having a Cup now. Are you gonna enter?" she questioned.

"Maybe." he replied simply, folding his arms over his chest now, eyes on the machine that had sucked their keyblade-wielding friend inside.

"Who with, as your partner?" Yuffie pressed, blinking, seemingly to be honestly curious, and she was taken aback when Leon turned to her with a strange look on his face.

"Who else? I thought you liked entering those." he replied, looking confused now as he watched her.

"I do! I just thought... maybe you'd want to enter with Cloud or something." she replied, leaning back in her seat, inwardly marveling. Squall didn't feel the need to ask her to be his partner.

"Oh. No." he replied simply, and they lapsed into a comfortable silence, Yuffie enjoying the warm feeling spreading to the very tips of her fingers and toes, Aerith pretending she didn't see the uncomfortable look, and slight blush on the cheeks of the swordsman. Her focus was  _supposed_  to be on Sora, Donald, and Goofy right now.

But still. It  _was_  pretty cute...


	4. One Moment

There was a moment. A heart-stopping, world freezing, terrifying moment when he thought,  _'I just might lose her.'_

He denied it later, of course.

But standing there, in that circled area with Cloud, battling off the Heartless, it had happened. Cloud had just slashed the last of them, and the two of them were chuckling and trying  _so hard_  to forget that this might be the last time they saw each other, when he dared a glance down.

And he saw her fall.

There were still hoards of them. Heartless, Nobodies, what was the difference? (There was a major difference, of course, but at this point, all he knew was they needed to be destroyed.) There was Yuffie with Aerith, cutting through Heartless like grass. She was grinning her insanity-smile, and Aerith was blasting fire, and he saw a mound of the black creatures go flying from what he could only assume to be Tifa, and then she was hit. It was straight at her abdomen, and she tumbled back, falling on her but, hands on her side. He saw her struggling to breath.

He couldn't feel anymore. He heard Cloud shouting beside him, but he couldn't make out words, he heard marching behind them, but he didn't care what it was. All he cared about was that Yuffie was on the ground, winded, unable to defend herself, with a Heartless marching towards her. He felt his lips move, whisper a single word, when a green light surrounded Yuffie, bells appeared above her head, and she shook off, standing abruptly.

He breathed again, and he turned, finally able to make out Cloud's words.

"What?" he questioned.

"I asked if you were okay. Because we've got a problem." the blonde replied, jabbing a thumb at the army approaching from behind.

"I'm fine." Leon replied curtly, turning to the mass.

Cloud was quiet for a long moment, before he lifted his sword. "It's scary... isn't it?" he questioned in a mumble.

Leon didn't respond at first, but when he did, he merely lifted his sword, and said, "I'll kill more than you this time.", before they charged into battle.


	5. Griever

"It's starting." Aerith's voice was soft, as the group gathered in Merlin's House locked and loaded.

Tifa was loading healing items into her pockets, Leon and Cloud were both checking their swords a last time, while Yuffie checked her weapons.

"Everyone knows where they're going?" Leon asked them, and they nodded. "Good. Go." he replied, nodding to the door. Four walked forwards, but Leon reached out, catching Yuffie's wrist, to stop her.

"Hey, what's the-" she started loudly.

"Yuffie, for once just shut up and listen to me." the seriousness in his voice made her mouth snap shut. There was a graveness to it, a defeat, and she did NOT like hearing it. She watched as his gloved hand rose to the back of his own neck, unfastening the silver chain, allowing his Griever necklace to fall into his opposite hand.

"I want you to keep it." Leon murmured, as he pressed it into her palm, her slender, pale fingers curling around it, before her face went hard.

"No." she replied firmly.

"No?" Leon questioned. He wasn't sure whether to be amused, or angry.

"No. I'm not  _keeping it_ for you. I'm going to  _hold it_ for you, and give it back to you when we meet back here, when all of this is over, do you understand me?" she demanded.

She sounded so unlike Yuffie, that a very small smile pressed his face. "Fine." he replied, and leaned down, for the briefest of moments, to kiss her, before he was gone, out the door and racing to catch up to Cloud.

Yuffie unzipped a pocket on her short, black leather vest, sliding the necklace inside, over her left breast, her heart. Zipping it shut, she hefted her Conformer, and ran to catch up with Aerith and Tifa now.

It was only later, when an arrow slipped under her guard, only to shatter against the metal within her shirt, did she grin in the center of the battle, and her weapon begin to glow, did her Limit break. And when her Conformer twisted around her like a tornado, bullets shot into the crowds of heartless as well, the necklace pulsing softly against her chest.

Now she'd have to stop making fun of the fact he wore jewelry.


	6. Unspoken Agreement

It happened sporadically. Neither of them spoke about it in the morning, and they never spoke at night, either. It was a silent agreement. The quiet, it didn't hurt either of them. It was a comfort. It was the other's presence they sought, and they found it each night.

It started with her, as most things do. Two thirty in the morning, and suddenly a cold feeling dropped into his stomach. He moved automatically, but she had been ready, catching his strike on the hilt of a kunai. It was a move only the quickest of fighters could have achieved, and he was caught between approval and annoyance.

"I could have hurt you." he sighed, voice rough with sleep as he set aside his weapon.

"I know." was her only response, as she set her weapon aside as well, and crawled over him, onto the other side of his bed. He was about to question when she spoke again. "I had a bad dream."

That, he could understand. And he could also understand that "bad" didn't just mean it had been frightening. When they dreamed, any of them who remembered, it was awful. Wake up in a cold sweat with the feeling of fire still licking at your skin as you were one of the last pulled out of the chaos awful.

So when she told him, he merely sighed, and laid back down beside her. It wasn't as if they hadn't shared quarters before. It had often been necessary. And even more often, they crammed themselves together to avoid being closer to Cid, who snored and kicked.

His next move he was more hesitant about, watching the back of her inky head, his hurricane eyes narrowed at the slight tremor in her shoulder, and that decided it. One arm went around her, pulling her firm as he sighed, closing his eyes. "It's over, Yuffie." he muttered, and they slept.

After that, they didn't need to talk. They knew what was wrong. They knew how to comfort one another, and they knew the others didn't need to know. The only thing she found funny was that he would never stay in her room. If he wanted her, he would drag her out of bed and into his room. She figured it was because her bed might be a little short for his tall frame, and the image of that often made her giggle.

When it was Yuffie, she needed to be held.

When it was Leon, she ran her hands through his hair until he fell asleep, and sometimes she kept going, because his hair was  _soft_ and it wasn't fair how if hers grew any longer than it was, it started sticking out all over the place.

And so the tradition stayed. It would stay, until either of them said otherwise.

They wouldn't.


End file.
